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Roark Luskin on the 'Survivor' Rules She Should Have Followed (Exclusive)

By Jennifer Drysdale‍ 1:37 PM PDT, October 26, 2017

CBS

Roark Luskin seemed like the perfect match for Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers -- she's smart, athletic and a fan of Survivor -- but was sent packing on Wednesday night.

"When I saw my name for the first time, I was like, 'Oh, OK. Yeah. I'll excuse myself. Thanks so much, Jeff Probst,'" the 27-year-old told ET over the phone on Thursday after watching her "saucy" tribal council the night before.

Roark's elimination seemed to be caused by a combination of the game's recent tribe swap and Ryan's alliance switcheroo, but she wasn't about to blame either one of them. "I believe the best Survivor players are always able to pivot and do something," she reasoned. "I had no idea about that day one super idol that Ryan gifted Chrissy, and that was a relationship that there was no way for myself or Ali to account for. They kept it so hidden."

"Unfortunately, that is what really got me," she continued. "I believe that while Ryan was making a choice about who to vote for between me and Chrissy, he was making a choice about who to align with between Chrissy and Ali, and he felt that Ali and my relationship [was too strong]."

"[Ali and I] live down the street from each other in L.A. We both have family in Chicago. We just had a lot of overlap that we naturally bonded over, and we both saw the game similarly. So that relationship was really real on both a game level and a personal level," Roark said, noting that her relationship with Chrissy was pretty much the opposite. "[We were] oil and water."

Roark knew instantly that she and Chrissy didn't gravitate towards each other -- and that Chrissy and Ryan did -- but just didn't act on it.

"We slept around the fire, and the way it's sort of laid out is that Ali and I slept together, and then there was the fire, and then there was JP, Chrissy and Ryan. And I remember saying, like, 'Why isn't Ryan sleeping next to Ali? Like, why is he sleeping next to the enemy, essentially, or the people he keeps claiming he wants to vote out? This is really weird.' I had that thought, but then I had to have the next level thought, which is, 'Ali, I think we've lost Ryan.' And that's my bad to not recognize that," she said. "The problem is, though, I missed that second step, but the third step isn't an option. What do we do? Confront Ryan? I don't think that is going to turn out. Chrissy's not working with us, and I don't think we get JP either. And so, I just think Ali and I were essentially on an island on an island."

Regardless, the social worker says there were a few Survivor rules she just didn't follow.

"I would like to [have talked] to everybody individually every day. That's just a good Survivor Rule. I wish I had done that," she shared. "The other is that, [I should have] trusted my gut and acted on my gut... the rest gets a little Survivor God-y. Because, really, my biggest game regret is I should have moved my hand half an inch and pulled a different buff. That's what I should have done."